On the recordJuly 15, 2010
I strongly support the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The American people often are cynical, with good reason, about the success that powerful corporate interests have in trumping the interests and rights of everyday Americans, on Wall Street, in Congress and even on our Supreme Court. Backed by multimillions of dollars that ordinary Americans cannot match, the lobbying pressure that was sharply focused on trying to shape this bill at every step, including the conference, was almost without parallel. Yet the bill that emerged from conference truly reflects the Nation's interests in real Wall Street reform. This is a great, unheralded victory for the American people and one that should serve as an example again and again. The recent financial crisis clearly exposed several flaws in our current regulatory system. Many large Wall Street investment banks and insurance companies hid their shaky finances from stockholders and government regulators. Corporate executives saw their salaries rise to extreme heights, even as their companies were failing and seeking government assistance. Through it all, Federal regulatory agencies failed to provide the necessary oversight to rein in these reckless actions. If this crisis has taught us anything, it is that the look-the-other-way, hands-off deregulatory policies that were in vogue in recent times can jeopardize not only private investments but our entire economy.
